Prepared by the Sub-Group* on a National Water Framework Law set up by the Planning Commission’s Working Group on Water Governance for the Twelfth Plan (* Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Chairman, Members: Philippe Cullet, K. J. Joy, K. C. Sivaramakrishnan, Videh Upadhyay, M. S. Vani. Assisted by Mahadevan Ramaswamy.) THE DRAFT NATIONAL WATER FRAMEWORK ACT: AN EXPLANATORY NOTE

I. Why is a national water law necessary?

1. Water, like air, is one of the most basic requirements for life. If a

national law is considered necessary on subjects such as the

environment, forests, wildlife, biological diversity, etc., a national law on

water is even more necessary. Water is as basic as (if not more basic

than) those subjects.

2. Under the Indian Constitution water is primarily a State subject,

but it is an increasingly important national concern in the context of:

(a) the right to water being a part of the fundamental the right to life;

(b) the perception of a water crisis because of the mounting pressure on

a finite resource;

(c) the inter-use and inter-State conflicts that this leads to, and the need

for a national consensus on water-sharing principles, and on the

arrangements for minimising conflicts and settling them quickly without

resort to adjudication to the extent possible;

(d) the threat to this vital resource by the massive generation of waste by

various uses of water and the severe pollution and contamination caused

by it;

(d) the long-term environmental, ecological and social implications of

efforts to augment the availability of water for human use;

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(e) the equity implications of the distribution, use and control of water:

equity as between uses; users; areas; sectors; States; countries; and

generations;

(f) the international dimensions of some of India’s rivers; and

(g) the emerging concerns about the impact of climate change on water

and the need for appropriate responses at local, national, regional, and

global levels.

It is clear that the above considerations cast several

responsibilities on the Central Government. Some of these can be dealt

with only partially under existing laws such as the Environment

(Protection) Act 1986, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act

1974, and others. On inter-State rivers there are (i) Entry 56 in the

Union List which enables the Central Government to act if Parliament

legislates for the purpose, (ii) the River Boards Act 1956 enacted under it

(which has remained inoperative), and (iii) the Inter-State Water Disputes

Act 1956 enacted under article 262 of the Constitution and amended in

2002. However, inter-State rivers and river valleys are not the same thing

as ‘water’ per se, and adjudication is not the only thing that needs to be

provided for.

All the aspects enumerated earlier cannot be brought within the

ambit of the existing Central laws. Given the concerns set forth above,

the need for a national water law is self-evident. Such a law will not

preclude the further use of Entry 56, or the re-activation of the River

Boards Act, or amendments and improvements to the ISWD Act.

3. Several States are enacting laws on water and related issues.

These can be quite divergent in their perceptions of water. Again, under a

number of Projects and Programmes different States are undertaking

‘water sector reforms’, and as a part of this they have formulated or are

formulating State Water Policies. Here again, significant divergences are

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possible. Some divergences of policy and law may be inevitable and

acceptable, but they have to be within reasonable limits set by a broad

national consensus on certain basics.

4. Different State Governments tend to adopt different positions on

the rights of different States over the waters of a river basin that

straddles more than one State. Such legal divergences tend to render the

resolution of inter-State river-water conflicts even more difficult than

they already are. A national statement of the general legal position and

principles that should govern such cases seems desirable.

5. Finally, the idea of a national water law is not something

unusual or unprecedented. Many countries in the world have national

water laws or codes, and some of them (for instance, the South African

National Water Act of 1998) are widely regarded as very enlightened.

There is also the well-known European Water Framework Directive of

2000. The considerations behind those national or supra-national

documents are relevant to India as well, although the form of a water law

for India will clearly have to be guided by the nature of the Indian

Constitution and the specific needs and circumstances of this country.

6. It was the recognition of the need for a minimal national

consensus on certain basic perceptions, concepts and principles that led

to the adoption of the National Water Policy of 1987 and the NWP of

2002. Currently the process of considering further revisions to the

National Water Policy is in progress. However, a national water policy has

no legal status. A national water law is necessary.

II. What will be the nature and scope of a national water law

in India? 1. The proposed national water law is not intended to centralise water

management or to change the Centre-State relations in any way. What is

proposed is not a Central water management law or a command-and-

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control law of the usual kind, but a framework law, i.e., an umbrella

statement of general principles governing the exercise of legislative

and/or executive (or devolved) powers by the Centre, the States and the

local governance institutions.

2. No administrative machinery or institutional structure (except for a

national water Information system) is envisaged at the Centre under this

framework law, and consequently no penal provisions are envisaged. This

is not intended to exclude the necessary administrative machinery,

institutional structure and penal provisions in State laws within this

framework.

3. However, the law is intended to be justiciable in the sense that the

laws passed and the executive actions taken by the Central and State

Governments and the devolved functions exercised by PRIs will have to

conform to the general principles and priorities laid down in the

framework law, and that deviations can be challenged in a court of law.

III. How will the law be enacted?

1. Given the present constitutional division of legislative powers between

the Union and the States, it will be necessary to follow the procedure

adopted in the case of the Water (Control and Prevention of Pollution) Act

1974, or more recently in the case of the Dam Safety Act 2010, i.e., a

certain number of State assemblies can be persuaded to pass resolutions

and then the Centre can enact this law. An Act so passed will be

applicable to the States that had passed the resolution and to other

States that adopt the Act. There is every reason to believe that most

States will adopt the Act, and that the Act will become truly national.

2. The alternative – a more difficult route – is to wait for water to be

moved to the Concurrent List first, and then get this law enacted by

Parliament.

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3. As water is not in the concurrent List now, the draft proceeds on the

assumption that only the first route is available.

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THE NATIONAL WATER FRAMEWORK ACT (DRAFT)

AN ACT to provide a broad overarching national legal framework of

general principles on water as a vital and stressed natural resource,

under which legislation and executive action on water at all levels of

governance, as also water-use and actions relating to water by citizens,

their associations and voluntary agencies, public and private institutions

and bodies corporate of all kinds, can take place, and for matters

connected therewith.

WHEREAS water is essential for the sustenance of life in all its forms; an

integral part of the ecological system, sustaining and being sustained by

it; a basic requirement for livelihoods; a cleaning agent; a necessary

input for economic activity such as agriculture, industry, and commerce;

a means of transportation; a means of recreation; an inseparable part of

a people’s landscape, society, history and culture; and in many cultures

a sacred substance, being venerated in some as a divinity;

AND WHEREAS water in all its forms constitutes a hydrological unity, so

that human interventions in any one form are likely to have effects on

others;

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AND WHEREAS water is a finite substance in nature, the same

quantum circulating through the hydrological cycle for millennia; and

water used for any purpose returns as waste or sewage or residue or

effluent, often in unusable form, and sometimes contaminating water

sources;

AND WHEREAS freshwater is coming under increasing pressure

because of the growth of human population and the processes of

urbanisation and economic growth, leading to over-use/depletion, abuse,

waste, scarcity, conflicts, pollution, and overall unsustainability of the

resource itself and of the ecological system of which it is a part;

AND WHEREAS there are many different perceptions of and perspectives

on water among people, States and groups, leading to divergences in

approach, policy, doctrine, principle, law and institutional arrangements;

AND WHEREAS having regard to the foregoing it is desirable that there

should be a broad national consensus on certain general approaches,

concerns, directions, and principles, while leaving room for differences

from State to State and from locality to locality, so as to bring about the

prudent, wise, equitable, socially just, conflict-free, efficient, and

sustainable use of water for a number of purposes;

Be it enacted by Parliament in the ……year of the Republic of India as

follows:-

1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement

(1) This Act may be called the National Water Framework Act (2011?).

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(2) It applies in the first instance to the whole of the States of…………..

and the Union territories; and it shall apply to such other States as adopt

this Act by resolution passed in that behalf under clause (1) of Article

252 of the Constitution.

(3) It shall come into force, at once in the States of……… and in the

Union territories, and on the date of adoption in any other State which

adopts this Act under clause (1) of Article 252 of the Constitution.

2. Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

“aquifer” means a subsurface layer or layers of geological strata of sufficient porosity and permeability able to hold or transmit water; “basin State” means a State the territory of which includes any portion of a river basin; “catchment”, in relation to a river or stream or water body, means the area, the water from which, in the natural course, flows into that river or stream or water body; “common pool resource” means a natural resource which, by its nature, is such that it is available for use by all the members of a village or other group or community, without exclusions of any kind, and the use of which by any individual or group diminishes the availability for others; “common property resource” means a resource owned in common by a village or group or community, as distinguished from private ownership or ownership by the state; “consultative” means “in consultation with the people or the community”; “corporatisation” means the conversion of a government body or agency into a company or corporation;

“full cost recovery pricing” or “full economic pricing” means pricing a good or service so as to recover all the costs, direct and indirect, including both Operation and Maintenance costs and capital-related costs, involved in the production and/or supply of that good or service, without any concession or subsidisation or under-pricing of any kind;

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“good water quality status” means water quality conforming to such standards as may be prescribed for the purpose;

‘groundwater’ means water which exists below the ground surface in the zone of saturation and can be extracted through wells or any other means or emerges as springs and base flows in streams and rivers; “hydrological cycle” means the water cycle from precipitation, through surface runoff or the retention of water in the atmosphere or soil, or seepage or percolation underground, on to evaporation from land and sea or evapo-transpiration from plants, back to precipitation; “hydrological unity” means the unity constituted by water in all its forms including rainfall, snowfall, snow on mountains, glaciers, atmospheric or soil moisture, groundwater, lakes, ponds and other surface water bodies, rivers and streams, and wetlands; “livelihood” means an activity or occupation or employment including self-employment that provides sustenance to an individual or family; “participatory” means “involving the active association and involvement of the people or the community in policy-formulation, project-planning or implementation, or activity, scheme, programme, project or institutional arrangements of any kind”; “precautionary principle” means the principle that advocates the adoption of a cautious approach, including anticipatory preventive or mitigatory action, towards an activity that holds the possibility of causing harm to human beings or the environment, even if that possibility is not fully established scientifically, with the onus of proving that there will be no such harm resting on the proposer of the activity; “prescribed” means “prescribed by rules made under this Act, or, in the case of water quality standards, under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974”; “privatisation” means the transfer of a government body or institution or a public enterprise to private ownership, or the transfer of a governmental or public sector activity to a private body; “public trust” means the doctrine that the state holds natural resources in trust for the community;

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“river basin” means the total area within which whatever precipitation or runoff occurs will, except for evaporation, evapotranspiration and seepage into the ground, eventually find its way to the river or one of its tributaries; “State” with a capital ‘S’ means a State in the Indian Union; “state” with a lower case ‘s’ means state in the abstract, e.g., state as distinguished from society; “state at all levels” means the state at the three levels envisaged in the Constitution, namely, the Union, the States and the local level of panchayati raj institutions and nagarpalikas; “sustainable use” or “sustainability” means the kind and level of use of water or other natural resource that ensures the continued availability of that resource for the present and future generations, without depletion or deterioration or dysfunctionality, and the continued healthy functioning of the related ecological system; “water as commodity” means water considered as a substance or object that can be traded, bought or sold; “water as economic good” means water considered as a good that is scarce in relation to wants and needs, can be put to alternative uses, and has an opportunity cost or exchange or marketable value in some uses; “water as social good” means water used for certain common or social or general purposes and not for the benefit of particular individuals or groups, for instance water for use in public hospitals or public educational institutions or public parks and gardens, or for municipal purposes such as firefighting or street-washing; “water footprint” means the total volume of water used direct or in the form of goods and services embodying water, by an individual or community or country as a whole, or by an industry or business in its production or other commercial activity; “water for life” means the water required for human survival, including drinking, cooking, bathing, personal hygiene, sanitation, and related personal or domestic uses, with an addition for women’s special needs; as also the water required for survival by livestock and other animals and birds, and by wildlife; “water-harvesting” means capturing and conserving rainwater or retarding run-off locally through various small-scale structures either for

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the direct use of the stored waters or for re-charging groundwater aquifers; “watershed” means the ridge or line of high land separating two areas such that rainwater falling on one side of the line drains on that side and cannot pass to the other side; by extension, the area bounded by the ridge; generally used to denote a small local area bounded by low ridges, but sometimes also a large area bounded by high hills, including a river-basin; and “wildlife” means wildlife as defined in The Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

3. Water: Heritage, Ecology, Equity

(1) (a) Water is a common natural heritage of humanity and shall be

used, protected and preserved as such.

(b) It shall be the duty of the state at all levels, the citizens, and all

categories of water-users, to protect, preserve and conserve all water

sources, and pass them on to the next generation.

(2) (a) Rivers, water bodies, aquifers and wetlands shall be recognised as

ecological systems in themselves and as parts of larger ecological

systems, and protected from over-use/depletion, abuse, pollution/

contamination, and degradation.

(b) There shall be minimum interference in existing natural river flows; in

the natural state of water bodies and wetlands; and in flood-plains and

river-beds which shall be recognised as integral parts of the rivers

themselves.

(c) Rivers shall be protected from construction on their flood-plains and

sand-mining on their beds.

(d) Where river-flows, water bodies, aquifers, wetlands, flood-plains or

river-beds have already been interfered with, efforts shall be made to stop

further interference, and reverse the adverse impact of interferences

already made, to the utmost extent possible.

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(e) The disposal of waste and discharge of pollutants and contaminants

into rivers, water bodies and wetlands shall be minimised quickly, and

stopped as early as possible.

(3) (a) As water is part of the ecological system and is dependent on its

healthy functioning, the protection and preservation of the integrity of

that system, its regenerative and assimilative potential, and its ability to

provide water, shall have overriding primacy in all policy and action

relating to water.

(b) The principle of sustainable use shall govern all categories of water

use.

(4) Water shall be recognised as a bounty of nature to be shared by

humanity with all other forms of life, with fellow humans of one’s own

and other groups, villages, States and countries, and with future

generations.

(5) Ecological considerations, social justice and equity shall be the prime

principles governing water policy, plans and management, having regard

to the essentiality of water for life, its importance for livelihoods and

economic activity, and its proneness to become the subject of conflict.

4. Water as Sustainer of Life

(1) Water in its primary aspect as a sustainer of life shall take precedence

over water in any other aspect.

(2) Other uses of water, such as agricultural, industrial, commercial, and

others, though important, shall not be such as to jeopardise or diminish

the role of water as sustainer of life.

5. Water as Common Pool Resource

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, water, that is to

say, water in its natural form, such as river, stream, spring, natural

surface-water body, aquifer and wetland, is neither state property nor

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private property but a common pool resource of the community to be

managed by the community or by the state for the community.

6. Water as Public Trust

(1) The state shall hold water in public trust for the people. It shall

exercise its legislative and executive powers in relation to water in the

capacity of trustee for the people.

(2) The ultimate responsibility of the state as public trustee shall remain

even if some of the functions of the state in relation to water are

entrusted to any agency, public or private or joint.

7. Water as a Scarce Resource

(1) Having regard to the growing pressure on the finite availability of

freshwater in nature, the prime principles governing water-use of all

kinds shall be equity, economy, efficiency, minimisation of waste,

resource-conservation, and ecological sustainability.

(2) The theft of water from public supply systems, the unauthorised

power-driven lifting of water from rivers, lakes and other water bodies

and from aquifers, and the pumping of water from river beds, shall be

prevented through stringent measures, while ensuring that such

measures do not have the effect of impinging on the right to water for life

assured in Section 10 of this Act or the social justice provisions of

Section 20 of this Act.

(3) It shall be the duty of the state at all levels, the citizens, and all

categories of water-users, to endeavour to reduce their water footprint at

every level, and thereby the water footprint of India.

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8. Basin and Aquifer as Guiding Frameworks

(1) Every water-related activity in any part of a river-basin, or a sub-

basin of a large basin, whether it is a large project involving a dam,

reservoir and canal system, or a diversion barrage, or a small-scale local

water-harvesting structure, or the extraction of groundwater, shall be

undertaken with due regard to:

(a) the hydrological and ecological characteristics and features of the

basin or sub-basin as a whole;

(b) the land-use appropriate to the relevant area;

(c) the relationship between surface water and groundwater; and

(d) a holistic view of the relationships of all such activities with one

another and with the basin or sub-basin as a whole.

(2) The optimal utilisation of waters within a river basin shall be ensured,

with due regard to the reasonable present and future needs for life and

livelihoods, appropriate economic activity, social justice and equity, and

ecological sustainability.

(3) River-flows adequate to preserve and protect a river basin as a

hydrological and ecological system shall be maintained.

(4) (a) It is only after ensuring full conformity to the principles stated in

sub-sections (1) to (3) of this section, that any inter-basin transfer of

waters shall be considered.

(b) Such a transfer, if found necessary, shall be made only with the

consent of the parties concerned, and after due consideration of its

environmental, ecological, cultural, social and human implications, as

determined in an independent, objective and professional manner.

(5) The extraction of groundwater in any manner in any area shall be

undertaken with due regard to the hydrogeological and ecological

characteristics and features of the aquifer as a whole.

(6) In all water-related activities, due regard shall be had to the

relationship between the river-basin or sub-basin and the aquifer.

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(7) Appropriate institutional arrangements, as elaborated further in

Section 14 below, shall be established to ensure coordination and

harmonisation at the basin level, aquifer level and between basin and

aquifer.

9. Water-use and Land-Use

(1) Water-use decisions shall have due regard to the land-use appropriate

to the relevant area, and in turn, the proper land-use for an area shall be

decided with due regard to the availability of water.

(2) In decisions on land-use for various purposes, due regard shall be

had to the protection of water sources, catchments, and drainage paths.

(3) Where water sources, catchments or drainage paths have already

been interfered with, efforts shall be made to stop further interference,

and reverse the adverse impact of interferences already made, to the

utmost extent possible.

10. Right to Water

(1) Every human being, and livestock or other domestic animal or bird,

shall have the right to sufficient and safe water to meet the requirement

of water for life.

Note: The quantity and quality of water that is considered sufficient and

safe to qualify as water for life shall be as prescribed.

(2) The right to water for life shall take precedence over water rights, if

any, for other uses including agricultural, industrial, commercial,

municipal, and recreational uses.

(3) In the case of tribal and other communities dependent on traditional

natural water sources including rivers, streams, lakes, springs, and

others, the right to water for life shall include their right of access to

those sources.

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(4) The state at all levels shall ensure the realisation of the right to water

for life, and monitor and review it periodically, through a participatory

and transparent process.

(5) In the case of wildlife, their access to their natural water sources and

the natural availability of water to them, shall not be adversely affected

by human actions, plans or projects.

11. Priorities in Water Allocations

(1) In all allocations of water by governments at any level, or by any other

duly authorised body or agency or institution, public or private, the first

and over-riding priority shall be for water for life, followed by water

required for all other uses, viz., water for livelihoods for vulnerable

sections, water as a social good, and water for agricultural, industrial,

commercial, recreational and other uses.

(2) The inter se priorities in allocations for different water-uses other

than water for life shall be as determined by the appropriate authorities

or agencies with reference to local circumstances such as local climate,

land and soil characteristics, water availability, prevalent activities and

livelihoods, and the land-uses indicated by those circumstances.

12. Water Conflicts: Inter-State River Water Disputes

(1) Appropriate institutional arrangements, as elaborated further in

section 14 below, shall be established at all levels within the State and

beyond up to an inter-State river-basin, to obviate and/or resolve

emerging inter-State river-water disputes through negotiations,

conciliation or mediation, or other such means, at the earliest stages

before the disputes become acute, so as to avoid recourse to adjudication

as far as possible.

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(2) In such efforts, and in the event of adjudication under the Inter-State

Water Disputes Act 1956 (as amended in 2002) if it becomes necessary,

the following broad principles shall be kept in view.

(a) None of the States in a river-basin owns the river; all of

them have use rights.

(b) All basin States in a river system are equal in rights-

status, and there is no hierarchy of rights among them, and

further, in this context, equality of rights means not equal

but equitable shares in the river waters, as stated in sub-

section 2 (e) of this Section.

(c) The upper basin-State shall adopt a cautious and

minimalist approach to major interventions in inter-State

rivers; provide advance information to the lower basin-States

about plans for intervention; consult them at all stages on

possible impacts; and take care to avoid significant harm or

injury to them.

(d) In an inter-State river system, all basin States shall

cooperate in good faith in the equitable, prudent and holistic

use of the river waters for the benefit of all.

(e) Where a State-wise allocation of the waters of an inter-

State river becomes necessary, such allocation shall be

governed by the principle of equitable sharing for beneficial

uses.

(f) The principle of equitable sharing for beneficial uses

implies that the upper basin-State shall respect the

legitimate needs and claims of the lower basin-State, and

that the latter shall recognise the legitimate needs of the

former, and further that the former shall refrain from

causing harm to the latter, and the latter shall not seek a

veto on upstream uses.

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(g) The relevant factors to be considered for equitable sharing

in terms of sub-sections (e) and (f) of this section shall

include but shall not be limited to:

(i) geographic, hydrographic, hydrological,

hydrogeological, climatic, ecological, and other natural

features;

(ii) the social and economic needs of the basin States

concerned;

(iii) the population dependent on the waters of the

inter -State river basin in each basin State;

(iv) the effects of the use or uses of the waters of the

river basin in one basin State upon other basin States;

(v) existing and potential uses of the waters of the

inter-State river basin;

(vi) the conservation, protection, and economical use of

the waters of the inter-State river basin;

(vii) the availability of appropriate alternatives to the

particular planned or existing use;

(viii) the sustainability of proposed or existing uses;

and

(ix) the minimisation of environmental, social or

human impacts of proposed uses.

(h) The weight of each factor mentioned in sub-section (g)

above shall be determined in each case in accordance with

the relevant circumstances of the case. In determining what

is a reasonable and equitable use, all relevant factors are to

be considered together and a conclusion reached on the

basis of the whole.

(i) The sharing shall be only of water that is available for

sharing after the ecological functions of the river are

ensured.

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(j) In any settlement by agreement or adjudication on an

inter-State river waters dispute, the principles and

modalities of sharing the waters in a difficult year of low

flows shall be clearly laid down.

(k) Adjudication, wherever necessary, shall be pursued with

goodwill and a willingness to find an acceptable answer to

the dispute, including the possibility of an agreed settlement.

(3) The resolution of inter-State river-water disputes, whether by

agreement or by adjudication, is not a one-time settlement but shall be

recognized as a continuous process of conformity to the spirit of the

settlement, and ensuring this shall be among the responsibilities of the

institutional arrangements referred to in sub-section (1) of this section.

(4) Data of all kinds needed for the purposes of sub-sections (1) to (3) of

this section shall be freely shared by the States concerned and put in the

public domain for the information of all without any restrictions on the

grounds of confidentiality or secrecy.

13. Water Conflicts: Other Kinds

(1) All efforts shall be made through appropriate institutional

arrangements at all levels to prevent a water-related dispute or conflict

from arising between or among different water-uses, or different groups

or classes of users, or different areas, and when a dispute or conflict

does arise, to settle it through negotiations, conciliation or mediation, or

other such means, before the dispute or conflict becomes acute, so as to

avoid recourse to litigation as far as possible.

(2) All such efforts shall be guided by the principles and priorities laid

down in Sections 4, 10 and 11 of this Act.

(3) Data of all kinds needed for the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2) of

this section shall be freely shared by the authorities concerned and put

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in the public domain for the information of all without any restrictions on

the grounds of confidentiality or secrecy.

(4) The institutional arrangements envisaged in sub-section (1) of this

section shall be made at all levels and scales from micro-watersheds to

sub-basins or basins or aquifers, on the lines outlined in Section 14

below.

(5) Existing water-related conflicts or disputes shall be reviewed and

appropriate action taken in the light of the provisions of this Act.

14. Institutional Arrangements

(1) The institutional arrangements envisaged in earlier sections for

(a) basin-level, aquifer-level, and basin-aquifer coordination and

harmonisation (section 8),

(b) ensuring the right to water for life (section 10),

(c) allocation and priority decisions (section 11),

(d) obviating and resolving inter-state river-water disputes (section 12),

and

(e) obviating and resolving other kinds of water-related disputes and

conflicts (section 13),

may be several parallel ones or one integrated structure as appropriate.

(2) (a) The institutional arrangements referred to in sub-section (1) of this

section, whether several parallel ones or one integrated structure, shall

be built from the village or micro-watershed level federating upwards in a

nested series to the sub-basin or basin level, with arrangements for

inter-State coordination in the case of basins spread over more than one

State.

(b) In designing the institutional arrangements, due regard shall be had

to harmonising administrative and hydrological divisions.

(3) At every level in the nested structures referred to in sub-section (2) of

this section, the institutional arrangements shall be representative of all

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those concerned including, as appropriate, all categories of water-users,

government administrators and technical personnel, and academics and

experts outside the Government, and shall be fully participatory.

(4) (a) The institutional arrangements that are adopted shall have equity,

social justice, resource-conservation and ecological sustainability, as

their overarching concerns, and shall be guided by basin hydrology and

ecology in all their decisions.

(b) The principles of transparency and accountability shall be central to

the design and implementation of institutional arrangements.

(5) Existing institutional arrangements such as water-users’

associations, village watershed committees, pani panchayats, and others,

including those which are being planned and those which have been set

up under other laws but are not yet fully operational, shall all be

reviewed to ensure conformity to the provisions of sub-sections (1) to (4)

of this section and other relevant sections of this Act.

(6) In particular, the need for a State-level Water Resources Regulatory

Authority and the nature of the regulation that is envisaged shall be

carefully reviewed in the light of sub-sections (1) to (4) of this section,

and if such an institution is found necessary, care shall be taken to

ensure the following:

(a) that it is a truly autonomous, professional, inter-

disciplinary body, with managerial, professional, mediatory

and adjudicatory capabilities built in;

(b) that it is truly consultative and participatory in its

composition and functioning, and that representatives of

civil society are associated with it at all levels and at every

stage;

(c) that it is decentralised in its own functioning and is also

consistent with the constitutional scheme of democratic

decentralisation; and

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(d) that its mandate and functioning are in harmony with the

provisions of this Act.

(7) (a) The institutional arrangements shall conform to the principle of

subsidiarity, i.e., the principle that decisions shall be taken at the lowest

appropriate level.

(b) The appropriate level for decision-making shall be determined with

reference to the nature of the decision, the knowledge and expertise

needed, and the implications of the decision for other levels.

(8) In establishing institutional arrangements due regard shall be had to

the Model Bill for a State-level Water Regulatory System circulated by the

Central Government.

15. Major Water Projects

(1) All large projects involving dams or barrages or other structures on

rivers to store or divert their waters for irrigation, hydroelectric power

generation, flood control, or other purposes, including run-of-the-river

projects, shall be guided by a cautious, minimalist approach, and by the

precautionary principle as regards their environmental, ecological, social,

human and other impacts and consequences.

(2) Strong and exceptional justification shall be needed to permit any

proposed interference with the natural flows of rivers by dams, barrages

or other structures on the river.

(3) A large project of the kind mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section

shall be selected only if, after an assessment of all options available for

achieving the objectives in view, such a project is found to be the unique

solution or the best of all available options in the given case.

(4) Least environmental impact and no or minimum displacement of

people shall be important selection criteria in the decision-making on

such projects. The options assessment referred to in sub-section (3) of

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this section shall include non-displacing or less-displacing alternatives to

a proposed project.

(5) The decision on a project shall be based on the free, informed prior

consent of the people likely to be affected by the project in any manner,

and also on fully independent, professional, rigorous, comprehensive and

objective Environmental Impact Assessment studies, including

cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment studies if there are

multiple projects on a river system.

(6) The people likely to be displaced or otherwise affected in any manner

by a project shall have the first claim on the benefits expected from the

project.

(7) The policies and measures of resettlement and/or rehabilitation of

people likely to be displaced or otherwise affected in any manner by a

project shall be such as to ensure the enhancement or at least the

maintenance of their earlier living standards and quality of life.

(8) Construction activity on a project shall proceed pari passu with

environmental remedial/compensatory/mitigatory actions and

resettlement/rehabilitation measures, in the sense that progress on such

actions and measures shall determine the pace of construction activity

and that the latter shall not proceed ahead of the former.

16. Groundwater

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, groundwater,

like surface water, shall be regarded as a common pool resource held in

public trust by the state.

(2) (a) Groundwater extraction shall be brought under regulation for

ensuring equity, resource-conservation, and water quality.

(b) Such regulation may be through various means as appropriate,

including control through the electricity tariff, the restriction of the

availability of electricity for groundwater-pumping for agricultural use to

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a certain number of hours, and the community management of

groundwater as a common pool resource.

(3) For the purpose of the community management of groundwater, all

aquifers shall be mapped and delineated through a participatory effort,

drawing upon local, traditional knowledge, modern knowledge including

hydrogeology, engineering and satellite imagery, and the social sciences.

(4) Aquifer-users’ associations shall be formed for the sustainable

management of the aquifers and the conservation of the resource.

(5) The objective of programmes for the artificial recharge of groundwater

shall be to offset a part of the depletion that has occurred, and not to

provide more water for wasteful use.

(6) In establishing institutional arrangements for groundwater

management, due regard shall be had to the Model Bill for the

Conservation, Protection, and Regulation of Groundwater circulated by

the Central Government.

17. Local Water Augmentation and Management

(1) Decentralised local rainwater-harvesting and micro-watershed

development shall be the preferred route for water augmentation and

management, and shall be undertaken wherever technically and socially

feasible.

(2) In undertaking the activities referred to in sub-section (1) of this

section, due regard shall be had to the suitability of the location chosen

for structures, possible downstream impacts, and harmony with basin

hydrology and ecology.

(3) Such efforts shall be based on local community knowledge and

traditional wisdom as well as modern science.

(4) Customary laws which form part of such traditional wisdom and

practices shall be given due recognition by the state, provided they are

non-discriminatory.

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(5) Institutional arrangements shall be made and social sanctions used

(a) to ensure the prudent, economical, equitable and resource-conserving

use of the water harvested by diligent effort by the local community, (b)

to avoid or minimise disputes and resolve them when they arise, and (c)

to protect the harvested water from appropriation by some to the

detriment of others.

(6) Such local efforts and initiatives shall be inclusive, equitable and non-

discriminatory.

(7) The state at all levels shall formally recognise and encourage local

initiatives for rainwater-harvesting and micro-watershed development.

(8) Effective working relationships shall be established between the

informal community institutions for water-related activities and the

formal institutions of local governance, i.e., the Panchayati Raj

Institutions.

18. Water Services: Corporatisation, Privatisation

(1) Water supply, being an essential service and a fundamental right,

shall be the responsibility of the state.

(2) If for any reason the state wishes to entrust this responsibility to an

autonomous or corporate body, public or private, this shall not affect

people’s fundamental or human rights in any manner.

(3) The state’s responsibility for ensuring people’s right to water shall

remain despite corporatisation or privatisation of water services.

(4) The privatisation of the service, if considered necessary and

appropriate, shall not lead to the privatisation of the resource.

(5) Considerations of profitability shall not override such social

conditions and obligations as are imposed on the autonomous or

corporate body as a part of the corporatisation or privatisation of water

services.

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19. Water Markets

(1) Water markets shall not be encouraged to flourish and proliferate in

an uncontrolled manner, but may be allowed to function subject to

careful regulation in the interests of equity, social justice, resource-

conservation and the protection of the aquifer.

(2) In particular, the bottled water and soft drinks industries shall be

reviewed to ensure (a) that the need for bottled water is reduced by the

better provision of adequate, safe and reliable water supply through

public systems; (b) that the industries’ draft of raw water from water

sources of any kind for processing is not such as to affect adversely the

availability of water for life or livelihoods in the community dependent on

the water source in question; and (c) that the disposal of process material

and waste or reject water does not have an adverse impact on the water

source or on the soil in the surrounding area.

20. Water Pricing

(1) The pricing of water shall be based on a differential pricing system in

recognition of the multiple roles of water as fundamental right, social

good, economic good, and part of history, culture and religion.

(2) (a) Water used for commercial agriculture and for industry or

commerce is an economic good, and may be priced on the basis of ‘full

cost recovery’ or full economic pricing, or higher if needed and

appropriate in a given case.

(b) Water used for subsistence or vulnerable livelihoods may be priced at

such rates as may be considered appropriate in the relevant socio-

economic circumstances.

(3) Water as a social good may be priced at such rates as may be

considered appropriate.

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(4) Water as a fundamental right and a part of the right to life, shall not

be denied to anyone on the ground of inability to pay.

(5) For domestic water supply, a graded pricing system may be adopted,

with ‘full cost recovery’ pricing for the middle-income and high-income

groups, affordable pricing for those below that level, and a modicum of

free supply to the very poor, or alternatively, a minimal quantum of water

may be supplied free to all.

(6) There should be prohibitive penalties to discourage profligate use, and

the service should be denied beyond a certain limit.

(7) The pollution of water sources and supplies should be severely

discouraged through the ‘polluter pays’ principle, the payment by the

polluter being equal to what is required to restore the pre-polluted

condition, and it should at the same time be ensured that the principle

is not distorted to mean that payment authorises pollution.

(7) Decisions by the State Governments, local bodies (PRIs and

nagarpalikas) or other agencies on actual pricing systems and their

operation shall be broadly guided by the principles set forth in sub-

sections (1) to (6) of this section, with flexibility for variations in the light

of the relevant circumstances.

21. Water and Women

(1) The state at all levels shall take all appropriate steps to protect the

rights, interests, and special water and sanitation needs of women.

(2) The access of villages to nearby sources of water shall be improved,

making it unnecessary for women to bring water from distant sources.

(3) Women shall be full participants in all water-related institutions at all

levels, and their participation in such bodies shall be non-exclusionary,

with no reference to title to property or other restrictive criteria.

(4) The state at all levels shall endeavour to enhance the effectiveness of

the participation of women in all water -related institutions.

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22. Water Quality and Pollution

(1) Subject to the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986

and Water (Control and Prevention of Pollution) Act 1974, the approach

to the prevention and control of pollution and contamination of water

sources shall include: (i) reducing water-use in all categories of use; (ii)

minimising the generation of waste in all water uses; (iii) recovering, to

the extent possible, water for some uses from waste; and (iv) ensuring

that nothing that does not meet certain stringent quality standards, to be

prescribed, is allowed to enter water sources.

(2) (a) In all water supply systems, rural or urban and public or private,

good water quality status, that is to say, water quality conforming to

such standards as may be prescribed, shall be achieved throughout the

country by (2020).

(b) Water quality in all rivers, streams, surface water bodies, aquifers and

other water sources throughout the country, shall be enhanced by (2020)

to conform to such standards as may be prescribed.

(c) The health of those rivers, streams, surface water bodies, aquifers and

other water sources throughout the country that are heavily polluted

and/or contaminated shall be restored by (2020) through special

programmes.

23. Drought

(1) The answer to the problems of water-short, arid or drought-prone

areas shall be primarily local, and it is only after exploring all local

possibilities, or determining that there are no such possibilities, that

recourse to water from external sources may be considered.

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(2) In drought-prone or arid areas, the pursuit of economic development

shall be primarily through routes other than water-intensive industry or

agriculture.

24. Floods

(1) In relation to periodical river floods, the emphasis shall shift from

structural flood-control measures to the following approach:

(a) learn to live with periodical river floods and minimise loss and

damage;

(b) ensure that land-use practices are such as to minimise and not

aggravate the adverse impact of floods;

(c) install adequate and timely advance warning systems;

(d) be ready with disaster avoidance and management plans;

(e) learn relevant lessons from traditional coping practices;

(f) if dams are built for flood moderation among other purposes,

ensure that a flood cushion is built in and actually maintained;

(g) as far as possible, refrain from confining a river within

embankments; and

(h) make flood control and embankment projects, if any, subject to the

requirement of Environmental Impact Assessment studies under

the Environment Protection Act 1986 and the EIA Notifications

thereunder.

(2) A vast, well-equipped, technologically advanced network of stations

for observing and analysing precipitation and flows and drawing

conclusions, and for the instant (`real time’) communication of such

information and predictions to downstream areas, shall be established

by expanding existing facilities and enhancing their quality and

technological status.

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(3) Timely information is necessary but not enough; it shall be

followed by prompt, adequate, equitable, efficient and humane

response.

(4) The thrust of the relief programme shall be, not to reduce people to

a state of dependence, but to enhance their ability to help themselves.

(5) Potential or actual conflicts in the context of dealing with floods or

administering flood-relief measures, arising between upstream and

downstream areas within a State, or between upstream and

downstream States, shall be obviated or minimised or resolved by

consultations in advance, timely sharing of information, and

cooperative or joint efforts and institutional arrangements.

(6) Interferences with natural channels and drainage paths that result

in the blocking of storm water drainage and cause or aggravate urban

floods shall be avoided.

25. Climate Change and Water

While further studies and research may be needed for obtaining detailed,

precise and area-specific information on the impact of climate change on

water resources, and on the vulnerabilities of certain areas and

settlements such as coastal or low-lying areas, anticipatory action for

mitigation and adaptation need not wait for those studies, but shall be

taken in hand immediately.

26. National Water Information System

(1) To design and build an excellent, nation-wide, detailed, professional

water information system, a National Water Information Agency (NWIA)

shall be set up.

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(2) The water information system shall have close linkages with the other

related information systems, such as those relating to meteorology, land,

forests, agriculture, tribal communities, industries, etc.

(3) All water-related information shall be open and accessible to all, and

shall not be denied to anyone on the grounds of confidentiality or

secrecy.

27. Existing Water-related Legislation and Reforms

(1) All existing water-related laws at the Central and State levels shall be

reviewed and amended where necessary to ensure conformity to the

provisions of this Act.

(2) All water-related reforms already initiated and those that are about to

be undertaken shall be reviewed in the light of the provisions of this Act

and the necessary changes made to ensure conformity to those

provisions.

28. Compliance, Deviations and Remedies

(1) (a) Water-related legislation and/or executive orders or action by the

state at all levels, as also water-use and actions relating to water by

citizens, their associations and voluntary agencies, public and private

institutions and bodies corporate of all kinds, shall conform to the

provisions of this Act.

(b) The NWIA referred to in section 26 of this Act shall also monitor the

state of compliance with the principles laid down in this Act and submit

reports to the state at all levels.

(2) The state at all levels shall ensure the availability of effective

administrative and legal remedies for those whose legal rights under this

Act have been violated, and for those who suffer or are under a serious

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threat of suffering damage arising from programs, plans, projects, or

activities relating to water.

(3) Remedies under this Section shall, as appropriate, provide for

preventive measures to obviate damage to persons, property, the

environment or the ecological system arising from non-compliance with

or deviations from the provisions of this Act; in the event of such non-

compliance or deviation, penalties for the same, and/or compensation for

the consequences; criminal prosecution of offenders; and any other

appropriate remedy in accordance with the provisions of any other law

for the time being in force.

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